


poison and wine

by Origamidragons



Series: poison and wine [1]
Category: One Piece
Genre: Canon Universe, Crimes & Criminals, F/F, Making Out, Post-Whole Cake Island, the inherent eroticism of doing crimes together
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-25
Updated: 2020-07-25
Packaged: 2021-03-05 19:53:50
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,367
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25510891
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Origamidragons/pseuds/Origamidragons
Summary: “Shall we toast?” Reiju asked. She hadn’t dropped her expression of quiet amusement once since entering the manor, and it was starting to get on Nami’s nerves.Nami arched a brow. “To crime?”Reiju laughed. “How about… to a lasting partnership?”“This is a one-night-only affair, Vinsmoke.”(Or: Nami isn't expecting to run into Vinsmoke Reiju plotting a murder at the same high-society party where she's planning a heist, but, well. Two birds, one stone.)
Relationships: Nami/Vinsmoke Reiju
Series: poison and wine [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1941763
Comments: 11
Kudos: 66





	poison and wine

“ _What_ ,” Nami hissed under her breath, “are _you_ doing here.”

She kept her voice low, so as not to raise any alarms. Just around the corner from the narrow alleyway they were hidden in was the gateway into the governor’s mansion, the massive open doors spilling light onto the cobblestones of the street. Guards with rifles stood stiffly on either side of the doorway as guests draped in silk and jewels flowed through the entryway.

The Governor’s Ball was the social event of the year, on this particular island. Anyone who was anyone would be in attendance, and droves of nobility from surrounding islands were invited as well. A forged invitation was tucked away in Nami’s own handbag, next to her lockpicks.

Vinsmoke Reiju tilted her head to one side innocently, pink bangs falling across her forehead, and leisurely looked Nami up and down. She looked absolutely unbothered by the blue steel of Nami’s clima-tact pressed beneath her chin and against her raised wrists, pinning her to the cold stone of the wall behind her. She was wearing a dress, mostly black and patterned with a scattered spiral of little white flowers, hem just low enough to hide the numbers tattooed to her thighs. There were pink and white gemstones dangling from her earrings, and Nami didn’t doubt they were real.

It occurred to Nami she was staring, and she forced herself to jerk her gaze back to Reiju’s eye, which was watching her with something that looked suspiciously like amusement.

“I could ask the same of you,” Reiju said mildly. “I hadn’t heard any word of the Strawhat Pirates on this island, and I do keep an eye out. Are you here alone?”

Nami didn’t answer, narrowing her eyes and tightening her grip on her weapon, but Reiju smiled as if she’d given confirmation anyways.

“My business here is nothing to do with you or your darling crew at all, don’t worry,” she said. “The island to the northeast has a king who’s made himself a surplus of enemies. A distasteful man who gets along well with other distasteful men. Someone has paid quite a lot of money to see him dead, but he’s rather paranoid and reclusive, which makes reaching him difficult… except, of course, for his annual attendance to this soiree, due to his close friendship with the governor.”

“So you’re here to assassinate him?”

“Yes,” Reiju confirmed easily. “And yourself? It’s nothing to do with the governor’s famed collection of jewels, I presume?”

Nami glared at her infuriatingly knowing smile and very, _very_ pink lips for a moment longer before she sighed and lowered her staff, letting it contract back to baton size and quickly tucking it back into the leg holster concealed beneath her skirt. Her dress was sea-green and sleeveless, and she’d slit the sides herself to make it easier to run or fight in if need be.

“I couldn’t resist, when I heard,” she admitted. “I asked my crew to drop me off. I’m almost disappointed by the security here, though. I thought this would be more of a challenge. Anyways, it doesn’t matter. You stay out of my way and I’ll stay out of yours.”

“I’ve heard the surveillance inside the mansion is bothersomely tight, however,” Reiju said, glancing around the corner to the steady stream of wealthy guests still flowing through the gates. “Perhaps the two of us can still help each other?”

Nami looked at her carefully. “What do you mean?”

Reiju shrugged casually and smiled. “Two pretty women wandering about together will certainly arouse less suspicion than two individuals poking around separately. And I understand infiltration to be a specialty of yours. Care to be my date?”

Nami’s first instinct was to reject the offer out of hand, but- well, she didn’t know anything about the security inside, and Reiju’s point was sound. And Reiju’s assassination attempt could potentially provide her a fantastic distraction for her theft, if she timed it right.

(And Reiju was very, very pretty.)

“No strings attached,” Nami said. “I’m not responsible for making sure you get out of here in one piece. And don’t think you get a cut of the loot, either. Anything I steal is mine and mine alone.”

“Fair terms,” Reiju conceded, and extended a crooked arm. “Shall we, then?”

“Don’t get any ideas,” Nami said, combing her hair back into place with her fingers and checking her reflection in a puddle of stagnant water before slipping her arm into Reiju’s. “You might have helped us get out of Tottoland, but that doesn’t mean we’re friends or anything, and I _definitely_ don’t trust you.”

“Of course,” Reiju agreed, sounding unbothered as they stepped back onto the street arm-in-arm, falling into step with a few other approaching guests. “Would ‘allies’ be more acceptable?”

“Allies works,” Nami conceded before wincing. “Ugh, I sound like Torao.”

“Hm?”

Nami waved her hand. “Nevermind,” she said before breaking into a bright smile as they approached the doorway.

“Evening, ladies,” the guard said, bowing his head shallowly in deference, though Nami didn’t miss the way his eyes never left them. It seemed Reiju was right- they would be more watched than she’d anticipated. “Invitations, please.”

Reiju pulled an invitation out and held it out for inspection, the ornate gold leaf lining glittering in the light. It was a _really good_ forgery, even Nami had to admit- much more professional than the one she’d brought. Seeing it, she felt a sudden bolt of doubt as to whether her own invite would pass. She’d have to try something else to get past the guard.

“Princess Reiju Dokuyaku,” Reiju introduced herself with a thin smile, holding the small card almost like a weapon.

The guard inspected the card for a long moment, then nodded, turning to Nami. “And…?”

“Her wife,” Nami interjected brightly, hanging off of Reiju’s arm and giving the guard a bubbly grin. This was an act she knew, though it had been awhile since she’d had to play it. She was pleased to note her acting skills hadn’t rusted at all. You never knew when they would come in handy.

The guard gave her a considering look, then, “Right. Enjoy the party, my ladies. Be sure to ask security if you have any concerns,” he said, waving them past without another look.

“Wife?” Reiju asked under her breath, a smile in her voice, as they proceeded into the foyer.

“Don’t get smug,” Nami muttered back, elbowing her. “My invite wouldn’t have passed and guards are less likely to question a spouse, that’s all.”

“Hm,” Reiju said, pink lips curving up into a smile. “I can certainly think of worse fates.”

It was just as well they stepped out into the ballroom just then, because Nami couldn’t think of a single clever rejoinder to that.

The ballroom was massive, with a high, arcing ceiling and a sweepingly wide marble dance floor, polished so bright it shone. Everything from the windowsills to the chandeliers above was excessively ornate. Just looking at it made Nami’s fingers itch. The room was populated by guests wandering here and there, most in pairs or small groups, marveling at the decor or talking among themselves.

“It doesn’t look like the jewels are on display yet,” Nami noted under her breath, straightening up to get a better look at the head of the room, where a collection of empty plinths stood.

“Unsurprising, if they’re to be the centerpiece,” Reiju said, casting a look around. “It seems his majesty has yet to make an appearance as well.” She turned back to Nami, and her one visible eye glittered a little. “It seems we have some time to kill, no?”

“Seems so,” Nami agreed, fluidly snagging a flute of champagne off a passing waiter’s platter. Reiju grabbed her own as the man passed, and twirled the stem between her fingers.

“Shall we toast?” Reiju asked. She hadn’t dropped her expression of quiet amusement once since entering the manor, and it was starting to get on Nami’s nerves.

Nami arched a brow. “To crime?”

Reiju laughed. “How about… to a lasting partnership?”

“This is a one-night-only affair, Vinsmoke.”

“I’ve found that one night can last a _very_ long time, if one knows what one is doing,” Reiju said with a knowing smile that slipped right under Nami’s skin. She fought down the blush. It would have felt too much like conceding defeat.

“I suppose I can drink to that,” Nami conceded, and tapped her glass against Reiju’s. The high _clink_ of crystal against crystal rang like a bell. “To mutual benefits.”

“Indeed,” Reiju said, smiling into her glass before taking a drink. Her vibrant lip gloss left a faint pink smudge on the rim of the glass, and Nami couldn’t seem to stop herself from noticing it. Her lips were the exact same shade of pink as her hair.

She wondered if Reiju’s lip gloss was poisonous. Not for any particular reason. It just seemed prudent to know, in case… circumstances arose.

They made their way across the room, winding through groups of chattering nobles and royals and other people of importance. Nami listened in on the conversations as they passed, hoping to hear something about the planned events of the night or perhaps some more word on the security measures, but most of the guests seemed more focused on recent pieces of gossip from the surrounding islands.

Suddenly, as they were making their way past a small group of guests, the word _pirate_ caught her ear, and she couldn’t help but slow down, changing course to drift over to the conversation, handing her now-empty champagne glass off to another waiter. Reiju followed her lead easily.

“Oh, it’s just _awful_ ,” an older woman in a gaudy golden dress and a tiara on her forehead was lamenting. “The pirate activity has only gotten worse and worse in the past two years. It’s taking the most _dreadful_ toll on my nerves.”

The man whose arm she was clinging to nodded solemnly. “It seems as though ever since the Paramount War, the world’s been in chaos.”

“It’s all because of those feral dogs of the Worst Generation!” a younger woman dressed in green spoke up, voice sharp and unpleasant. “We were fine as we were before they started upsetting the natural order of things! Why can’t they just leave us be and live like law-abiding citizens like the rest of us? Rotten criminal scum.”

Nami had to bite her tongue to keep from saying anything, and her hands curled into fists at her sides as she felt her face start to heat up with rage. _You have no idea_ , she wanted to say. _You have no idea, you here in your jewels and your champagne and your guards at the door. You don’t know anything about_ him _, you don’t know anything about_ us _, you have no idea and no_ right-

A cool hand with shimmery pink nail polish, impeccably neat, settled on her bare shoulder, pulling her back to reality. “Pardon me,” Reiju said, taking a step forward and slipping effortlessly into the conversation, tugging the guests’ attention to her just as easily. “Terribly sorry to interrupt. Did I hear you were talking about pirates?”

“We certainly were!” the woman in green said. “Have you been reading the papers lately?”

“Yes, I pay very close attention to the world news,” Reiju said. “You have to, these days, mm? It’s so _hard_ to keep track of it all. So hard to know who is on your side.”

“Goodness, yes,” said the older woman in gold.

“And, why, if one isn’t well-informed, one could wind up being scared of absolutely everything, which seems to me like a positively _pitiable_ existence,” Reiju continued, and Nami could tell at once the words weren’t meant for the guests, not really.

She looked around at the guests again- well-dressed and wide-eyed and frightened and weak, and yes, maybe Reiju was right. _You have no idea_ , she thought again, though this time there was no anger, just a dawning sort of comprehension. _No idea at all_.

And they never would. They would never know the bone-deep fury of injustice or the glee of a successful escape, or the feeling of the ocean wind on sunburnt skin. Their worlds would never grow beyond these decorated rooms and tittering conversations, frightened of the pirates at their doors when they should have been worried about something else entirely.

“Exactly!” the woman in green said with a firm nod, as though she had the slightest idea at all what she was agreeing to, and the conversation resumed, now thoroughly distracted from the topic of the Worst Generation and, by proxy, the Strawhat Pirates.

Nami reached up to her shoulder to find Reiju’s hand and lace their fingers together. Reiju gently pulled her away from the conversation, and Nami let herself go.

“Thanks,” Nami said, once they were far enough away from the conversation. Out of the heat of the moment, she felt almost embarrassed of her almost-outburst. She’d never had near misses like that on her many infiltrations before becoming a pirate.

It was strange to realize that, in the intervening time, she’d changed so deeply. Come to care so deeply.

“I’m out of practice,” she muttered, rubbing the back of her neck with her free hand. “I used to be a lot better at playing along.”

Reiju was giving her a look that she couldn’t quite place, with a light in her blue eye that made her look all at once much more human. “It’s not a weakness to care about things,” she said.

There was something more to those words than just what Reiju said, Nami could tell from the tightening in her shoulders and the sudden vulnerability in her voice, but she didn’t push, though she couldn’t help but wonder. It didn’t feel like the time or the place.

Instead, she gave herself a long moment to catch her breath and regain her composure, until she was sure she wouldn’t turn back around to take a swing at that lady in green, and then smiled again.

After all, this was shaping up to be an interesting night. She wasn’t about to let anyone ruin it for her.

* * *

After they’d drifted between a few other (luckily more boring) conversations and shared a few more flutes of champagne apiece, Nami found her attention drifting towards the section of the marble floor where a few of the guests were dancing, turning in slow, careful circles to the accompaniment of a string quartet.

Maybe it was down to the faint, warm hum of the alcohol in her system, but the words slipped from her lips before she could stop them. “Want to dance?”

Reiju looked surprised, but pleasantly so, her visible eye widening momentarily before she smiled. “I’d love to,” she said. Nami realized belatedly that Reiju’s hand was still in hers, her skin calmingly cool, as she led her over to the dance floor.

“I ought to warn you, I don’t have much experience with dancing,” Reiju said, and true to her words, her movements were a little hesitant as she settled a hand on Nami’s waist, despite the easy grace with which she seemed to do everything.

Nami blinked. “Really?”

Reiju tipped her head. “Is that surprising?”

Nami shrugged a little, absently adjusting Reiju’s loose grip on her hand to something more correct. This, at least, was something she could do in her sleep, after countless cruise ships and gaudy parties and _‘may I have this dance, miss?’_ “I just assumed, since you’re royalty and all. And Sanji does.”

Reiju laughed, looking momentarily delighted. “ _Does_ he? Adorable. But… no, our father was never particularly concerned about our education in such areas,” she admitted, her expression shuttering slightly.

 _Ah_. “Well, no problem,” Nami said. “I can teach you.”

Reiju’s smile softened. “I’d love that,” she said, and sounded sincere.

The music was slow and classical, easy to move to. Despite her proclaimed inexperience, Reiju was a fast learner, quickly falling into rhythm with the music and Nami’s steps as she guided the both of them around the dance floor. The hem of her little black dress, decorated with flowers, twirled around her knees.

Reiju was so very _graceful_. Nami couldn’t help but be almost envious of the easy balance with which she seemed to do everything. She was used to seeing it in Sanji, easily balancing armfuls of plates or snapping up a leg to catch a falling dish without missing a step, but something about the way Reiju moved practically turned her into poetry.

Because there was really no avoiding it- Reiju was _beautiful_ , all long legs and pink lips and unblemished skin. Nami kept catching herself staring, and it seemed like every time she did, Reiju’s knowing eyes caught hers.

The more time she spent with Reiju’s cool hands in hers, Reiju’s perfectly lacquered nails against her skin, Reiju’s clever smile haunting her mind, she more she wanted to get her alone in a bed or against a wall and just-

Nami might have been a little in over her head. She had a bad habit, when it came to girls, their eyes and their smiles, and all the better if there was a taste of danger involved. She spun Reiju out, catching her by her fingertips and pulling her back in, and for half a second they were nearly nose-to-nose.

She really was stupid, letting herself get reeled in like this.

She couldn’t even bring herself to regret it.

They were three songs deep when a cavernous _thunk_ sound reverberated through the ballroom, and they both stilled in place almost at once, looking up at the same time as all eyes turned to the massive doors at the entrance swinging shut.

In front of them stood a thin man with a slick grey mustache, holding a microphone.

“Ah, this will be our venerable host,” Reiju said. She was still tucked half against Nami’s chest, where she’d been when the music had stopped, and seemed disinclined to move. “It seems the party will now start in earnest.”

Nami could have scolded herself. She’d gotten so caught up in Reiju that she’d momentarily forgotten the greater situation- the jewels to be won, the heist to be made, the man somewhere in this crowd who would certainly be dead by the time the night was out. She had to force herself to drag her attention away from the woman pressed close against her and focus on the host as he began to speak.

“ _Honored guests_ ,” he said, amplified voice rolling around the room. “ _It’s a pleasure to have you all here with me tonight, for the annual Governor’s Ball. It seems we’ve all arrived safely. Looking out now, I see plenty of old friends and new faces alike, and I hope you’ll all have a splendid time.”_

_“The schedule for this evening will be as follows: after a half hour of mingling, we will have some musical performances from some of the loveliest singers in the area, and then waiters will provide the main course followed by the presentation of the evening’s centerpiece- the crown jewels.”_

_“If you have any concerns at all, please bring them to me or one of our many esteemed security officers. Safety is a priority, especially with the recent pirate activity. My greatest wish is for you all to feel safe, fulfilled, and happy tonight. Please, enjoy the festivities!”_

With that, he bowed, and a polite round of applause rose from the crowd of assembled guests. Nami glanced around and took fresh notice of the guards spaced along the walls. All armed. She was abruptly very glad for the cool, reassuring press of her compressed clima-tact against her thigh.

“It would be better to get to the gems before they’re on display,” she murmured, half to herself and half to Reiju, quiet enough to be barely audible. “Those pedestals are very visible.” Anyone who drew too close to them would be almost immediately noticed by the guards, and most likely dealt with accordingly.

“By design, I’m sure,” Reiju agreed. “Shall we have a look about, then? They must already be somewhere in the manor.”

“Do you see your… target anywhere around here?” Nami asked. She glanced around, but it told her nothing- all of the faces here were unfamiliar.

Reiju shook her head, one-eyed gaze roving watchfully over the crowd. “I don’t, but he must be here somewhere if all the guests are already arrived.”

“What if he’s just not here this year?”

Reiju hummed. “It’s possible. If that’s the case, I’ll just have to approach the problem with a bit more mess,” she said mildly, as though breaking in and murdering a paranoid king on his home turf was nothing more than a mild inconvenience. “Even if so, though- the evening’s already been quite worth my while.”

Nami arched an eyebrow. “Oh?”

Reiju’s pink-painted lips curved up. “Mhm,” she hummed.

A voice in the back of Nami’s mind whispered, _You don’t need to be back with your crew until morning. You have a whole night ahead._

“Shall we have a walk about, then?” Reiju said, extending a hand, and Nami took it before she could even begin to think twice.

They slipped easily down one of the hallways that branched off of the main ballroom. It seemed all the rest of the mansion was just as lavishly decorated as the centerpiece room- tapestries depicting scenes of battle and bloodshed hung on the walls, spaced here and there with ornately-worked doors and windows, and lush carpeting muffled the sounds of their heels against the floor. Nami wondered just how many millions of beri surrounded them, built into the house itself, and couldn’t help a flash of bitter greed.

At her side, Reiju made a small, half-amused noise. “Look at that. History being rewritten all around us.”

Nami glanced over at her. “What?”

“Do you know anything about the history of this island?”

Nami shook her head. “Only that there was a civil war… ten years ago? Right?”

“Indeed, though that’s only a fragment of the story,” Reiju said, nodding at the tapestries. “I’d advise you ask Nico-san at some point, she’d surely tell it better than I, but the simple version is that the former king of this island was deposed and his power seized by the honored governor who is hosting us tonight.”

“By the few reputable accounts that exist, the king was a mild, unimpressive but decent man, who had maintained the peace for decades. The governor enlisted the help of the greedy ruler of a neighboring island- the same I’m aiming for tonight, as it happens- to aid him in his overthrow, and launched a surprise attack. The so-called civil war barely took a night. So, a question, Miss Navigator,” Reiju said, and gestured towards the hanging tapestries with an airy wave, “Just when did all these glorious battles take place?”

Nami slowly pivoted in place, taking in the scenes woven around them. A man in a crown with bloodied hands and a wicked sneer; two armies, clashing in what looked to be a city center. She thought of Alabasta, and Vivi’s voice cracking with sobs.

She exhaled, and pressed her lips together for a moment. “Well, I’m glad we’re about to rob him blind, then,” she said, her voice a little sharper than she’d intended.

For the first time that night, Reiju’s smile had teeth. “I as well,” she said.

Nami raised an eyebrow. “I thought you people didn’t care about-” she waved a hand- “morality.”

“Says the pirate?” Reiju asked, sounding unbothered. Nami was beginning to wonder if anything at all offended her. “I’d think you of all people would understand that criminal acts don’t preclude an appreciation for justice, elusive though it is.”

“Fair enough,” Nami conceded. She opened her mouth to say something else when suddenly another voice reached her ears- around the next corner from them, and drawing steadily nearer. She paused in step immediately, listening intently, and saw Reiju doing the same.

It was the voice of their host, the governor, the same voice that had been ringing around the ballroom not long before. There were two sets of footsteps.

“...could make it,” the governor was saying.

Nami glanced around and caught her eyes on the nearest door. She quickly sidestepped over to the wall, grateful that the carpet muted the clack of her heels, and eased the door open, luckily without needing to wrestle with it. It opened into a small closet, and Nami ducked inside without hesitation, yanking Reiju in after her and easing the door closed again just as the footsteps rounded the corner.

The space was narrow- even with their backs against opposite walls, they were chest-to-chest. Just enough light eked in past the door for Nami to make out the outlines of Reiju’s face, very close to hers.

Another voice said, “Wouldn’t miss it for the world,” and Nami could feel Reiju tense, just slightly.

“ _That’s him_ ,” she whispered in Nami’s ear, so faint it was barely an exhale, her breath warm on Nami’s skin.

“I’m glad you agreed to raise the security this year,” the second man- Reiju’s target, the king- continued. “I’m telling you, people are aiming for my life! I have reputable information!”

The governor chuckled. “Anything for my dear friend! I’ve told the guards to keep a special eye out for you, as well. You needn’t worry about a thing.”

“You wouldn’t believe what a weight off my shoulders that is!” the king said with a laugh, as the two voices passed by the closet door without a pause, completely oblivious to the two women listening to their every word.

“I understand how you feel, of course,” the governor said. “Security is a necessity, especially in these trying times. Why do you think I’m keeping my collection safely in my office for the next few hours?”

 _Bingo._ Nami grinned. She had her target. And Reiju had hers.

The voices lapsed into silence after that, and as Nami waited for the footsteps to fade, she became increasingly aware of Reiju’s heart beating against her chest; of Reiju’s perfume, something like flowers and something like steel, filling the small space; of the faintest hint of light through the door catching on Reiju’s glossy pink lip gloss.

 _Poison_ , she remembered dimly, and couldn’t bring herself to care even a little bit.

“You know,” Reiju whispered, still hushed almost to inaudibility, “we have plenty of time.”

 _Fuck it_ , Nami thought, and kissed her.

It was clumsy, in the crowded darkness, off-center and uncertain at first, but Reiju responded immediately, pushing Nami back against the closet wall with her whole body weight, leaning into the kiss and deepening it into something that felt almost sinful.

One of Nami’s hands was still around one of Reiju’s wrists, and she felt her way up the other woman’s arm and across her bare shoulders, finding the contours of her body in the darkness, pulling her close, holding her close. Reiju’s skin was cool, but her body was _warm_ , pressed against Nami’s, chest to chest and hip to hip like puzzle pieces. Her hands closed around Nami’s upper arms, perfectly manicured nails pressing little crescents into her skin.

It was the furthest thing from dignified, for all the silk they were draped in, for all the diamonds hanging from Reiju’s ears. Outside there was a party, and a horde of jewels to steal, but in the moment Nami couldn’t care about any of it, with Reiju’s mouth on hers, Reiju’s lip gloss on her tongue and on her teeth.

She tasted like strawberries. Nami felt like she could have got drunk on that taste alone.

After what felt like the best forever Nami had ever known, Reiju pulled away just long enough to whisper, sounding just a little out of breath, the most she had all night, “I was _wondering_ when you were going to kiss me.”

Nami snorted into the crook of Reiju’s shoulder, pressing lips against her skin. “And how was it?” she asked, unable to keep a spark of knowing out of her voice. She knew damn well that she was _good_ at kissing girls.

“ _Delicious_ ,” Reiju murmured emphatically, something irresistibly heavy in her voice, and Nami found her lips in the darkness and kissed her again and again.

She couldn’t have said whether it was ten or twenty or fifty minutes later that they eventually pulled apart, her arms on Reiju’s back and Reiju’s hands on her shoulders, the both of them dizzy and thoroughly kissed. Nami leaned against the wall at her back while she caught her breath, Reiju still flush against her chest, their breath and perfume mingling together in the narrow space.

For a long, long moment, she just rested there, and felt the rise and fall of Reiju’s chest against hers, the press of her hands and the tickle of her hair against her bare shoulder and neck.

This was already a far better night than she could ever have dreamed of, and she hadn’t even laid hands on a single gem. The weight and warmth of Reiju in her arms was easily worth the governor’s entire horde.

“We’ve got work to do,” Nami eventually said, and didn’t move.

“Mhm,” Reiju hummed. “When do you need to be back with your crew?”

“Not until morning.”

She could feel Reiju smile against her shoulder. “So why don’t we get our work done, get out of here… and then see what we can do with the rest of the night, hm?”

Nami grinned into the darkness, feeling excitement bubble through her veins like champagne- at the prospect of getting away clean with jewels dripping from her hands, at the thought of Reiju’s dress on the floor. “Sounds like heaven.”

* * *

The plan was relatively simple. Nami would make her way up to the governor’s office, circumventing security to help herself to the gems before they were put on display, and once she was out she would trip the alarm on purpose to cause chaos enough downstairs for Reiju to pull off her kill in the resulting confusion- which, in turn, would kick up a fresh panic and facilitate their escape.

 _To mutual benefits_. She licked her lips idly and tasted strawberry as she made her way down the hall.

The security was much lighter outside the main ballroom where the guests were gathered, which made evading the notice of what few guards there were a piece of cake, especially for an experienced infiltrator. The guests were allowed free reign of the mansion, of course, but if she was found poking around on her own there would be questions, and more attention on her than she wanted.

In the end, the governor’s third-floor office was easy to find, and nearly as easy to slip into. There was a single bored-looking guard pacing back and forth in front of the door, but getting past him proved to just be a matter of waiting until he ducked out onto the balcony for a surreptitious smoke break and then picking the lock on the door.

The room was filled with cabinets upon cabinets of jewels, resting on velvet cushioning and lit by built-in lights. They were positioned along both sides of the long room, so that whoever was sitting at the desk at the head of the office with their back to the picture window had a full view of all the riches on display.

The cabinets were alarmed, obviously, but seeing the thin tangles of wires and triggers just made Nami’s grin grow as she fished her penknife from her purse and a couple more bobby pins from her hair. It had been a long time since she’d had to challenge herself like this, and there was something exhilarating about it.

When she had worked for Arlong, every theft had been overshadowed by the constant count running in the back of her mind, dragged down by the weight of the money buried in Bellemere’s tangerine orchard: _five million, ten, thirteen, twenty million, a fifth of the way there, twenty-six_ -

But now she was free. She could _breathe_ , and everything she took was hers and hers alone, rather than payment towards a promise that would never be honored. With the constant suffocating stress of desperation gone, she could finally enjoy the thrill of the job in its fullest.

It tasted like strawberries.

One by one, she carefully disconnected the alarms, tongue between her teeth in concentration, and set them aside. Sliding the window of the first cabinet open sent tingles of electricity up her arms, vibrant and bright.

The first piece she retrieved was a necklace of pearls, each bead perfectly round and glinting ivory under the cabinet lights. She draped the strand around her neck and rolled her shoulders, savoring the silky feel of the pearls against her skin. It reminded her of the feel of Reiju’s hand in hers, cool and smooth and pale as porcelain.

The riches disappeared steadily into her purse, the occasional particularly gorgeous accessory making its way onto her person instead; a golden cuff around her upper arm, a tiara set with diamonds atop her head. Before long, she had the shelves on both sides of the room cleared, gems glittering and spilling from the mouth of her overstuffed purse.

The only thing left was the centerpiece of the collection, resting in a small case on the governor’s desk- a heavy cushion-cut diamond that put stars in Nami’s eyes just from looking.

She pulled her shoes off, tossing them aside- far easier to run in bare feet than in heels.

In one smooth movement, she pulled her clima-tact from beneath her dress and snapped it open to its full length, smashed the alarmed case enclosing the diamond with a single sharp swing, grabbed the jewel with her free hand as the lights went dim and alarms began to sing out, and _ran_.

Three minutes, Reiju had said. She just needed to give her three minutes.

She started counting off the seconds in her head as she slammed the office door open again, no longer bothering with the pretense of subtlety. The guard who’d been watching the hallway was caught stunned with his hand halfway to his gun, and Nami wasted no time clubbing him across the head with her staff, not even bothering with the weather features.

He collapsed like a rag doll and she took off down the hallway, barefoot and bright-eyed, as more heavy footsteps approached around the corner. With the pins that had been holding her hair up gone, her updo came undone, long tangled curls of orange falling free down her back and over her shoulders.

_Twenty… twenty-one… twenty-two…_

She was Reiju’s distraction. Reiju was her escape route. Ordinarily she wouldn’t trust anyone outside of her crew for something like that, but, well. Even untrusting as she was, she’d always been a sucker for a pretty women with sharp smiles. Carina was proof enough of that. (She never did learn.)

She tossed a lightning bolt over her shoulder as two more guards rounded the corner, and turned down another hallway to the accompaniment of their shouting. There were more coming, stampeding up the stairs- the ballroom below must have been in absolute chaos, abandoned by the guards and full of panicked wealthy guests. A perfect setting for an assassination.

Nami had always been good at escaping. She’d learned to be good, over years and years where her only true weapons were her feet and her mind. There was a reason they called her a cat.

She dodged around corners and ducked through doors, obscuring sightlines, always careful not to lose her footing, not to back herself into a corner. The guards were thickest at the tops of the stairs, gathering there to block off her exits and wait for her to run right into them, but they were bound for disappointment. She’d never meant to leave down the stairs.

_One hundred seventy-four… seventy-five… seventy-six…_

She rounded a corner to the front of the house. There was an ornate floor to ceiling-picture window there, overlooking the streets below. It ran in long panels all along the stretch of hall, providing a truly stunning view of the city at night. It must have been very expensive.

Nami twisted her staff and unleashed a focused hurricane of gale-force wind that shattered it to glittering dust in an instant, not even pausing in her stride as the cool night wind rushed in. In a matter of moments, what had been a wall of glass had become an emergency exit. Two more strides took her to the lip of the void, standing on the edge between the bright, ornate mansion at her back and the dark night sky before her.

She glanced over her shoulder to wink at the guards as they rounded the corner, as they skidded to a halt almost as one to keep their momentum from carrying them out the broken window, as their eyes widened in realization.

Then she jumped.

For a moment, she was in freefall, night air rushing past her, silky turquoise skirt and tangled orange hair and gleaming strings of pearls all trailing behind her like a comet’s tail as she dropped towards the cobblestones below.

A soft laugh; a flash of pink.

A pair of arms closed around her, holding her close, gently bringing her fall to a stop ten feet off the ground, suspended in midair. Gunfire rattled out, flashing from the broken window, thudding harmlessly into the sweeping purple butterfly wings of Reiju’s raid suit, fanned out behind them, shielding them.

“Playing it a bit close there, weren’t we?” Reiju said, smiling despite her words. Her little black dress had disappeared in favor of her raid suit, sleek and revealing, and there was a splatter of blood high on one of her cheekbones.

Nami grinned, wrists trailing sapphires and silver as she looped her arms around Reiju’s neck, drunk and giddy on gold and diamonds and the lingering taste of strawberries and champagne, and said, “I like to live dangerously.”

“Spoken like a pirate,” Reiju said, eye bright with amusement. “Shall we take our leave of this dull affair, then?”

“Let’s,” Nami agreed, and Reiju swung her easily up into a princess carry and kicked off of thin air, soaring gracefully through the night sky, the panicked commotion of the party and the rattle of gunfire quickly fading behind them. The night sky was clear and bright above them, scattered with stars, and the city’s nightlife glowed beneath their feet.

She pulled herself up to press a kiss to Reiju’s cheek, and smiled when she felt a soft laugh run through the other woman’s body. Diamonds in the stars above and lights below and spilling from her purse, and diamonds hanging from Reiju’s ears, and Nami could have lived in that moment forever.

* * *

Reiju’s hotel room was a penthouse, the top of one of the tallest buildings in the city, because if there was one trait she shared with her brother it was an inability to do things halfway. The noise and light of the chaos at the governor’s manor was far-away and faded now, leaving them alone in the peaceful darkness of the room, sitting side by side on the silky sheets and trading smiles.

It would take time to mount a search, in a city of this size. They’d be gone by morning, long before they could be discovered.

For now, they had the night.

They’d both undressed; Reiju’s raid suit was gone, leaving her in just her underwear, the bold black of the tattoos on her legs standing out like a crime against the flawless smoothness of her skin. Nami couldn’t help but be reminded of a different tattoo, a mark of ownership written in dark blue ink, sharp and cruel and irrevocable.

“Nami,” Reiju said thoughtfully after a long stretch of comfortable silence, staring out the wide glass balcony windows to the city below. “Can I ask you something?”

“Sure,” Nami said, resting her hand on Reiju’s on the sheets, stolen rings cool on her fingers. Reiju leaned against her bare shoulder in answer, her skin pleasantly cool while Nami’s was still flushed from exertion.

“What’s it like to be a pirate?”

“Mmm,” Nami hummed, thinking for a second. How did you even begin to answer a question like that? It should have been impossible, and yet the words fell from her tongue easily. “Being a pirate is… freedom. It’s living exactly how you want to and chasing your dreams no matter what they are, no matter what the world tries to tell you.”

She smiled, soft and unconscious. “But it’s also finding people to share that dream with, who’ll go to the end of the world with you. There are captains who don’t see it that way- like Big Mom, or-” _Arlong_ , she bit down on the name, and swallowed before continuing, “...but if you’ve got a good captain, and a good crew, and a good ship… I think it’s the best life there is.”

“...It sounds lovely,” Reiju murmured after a moment. There was an almost mournful kind of look on her face, something sad and something longing, lit dimly in profile by the light of the city below.

Something about that look, about the absence of the knowing gleam that had sparkled in Reiju’s eyes all night, pushed her to blurt, before she could think better of it, “Are you happy?”

Reiju blinked, like she hadn’t been expecting Nami to say anything, like she’d forgotten she was there entirely for a moment, before she sighed and shook her head. “You Strawhats,” she said, sounding fond. “What _is_ it about you? ”

She was quiet a moment longer before she looked over, met Nami’s gaze, and smiled. There was something different about it this time, Nami couldn’t help but think. The teasing playfulness from earlier was gone, replaced by something warmer and much more honest. “I’m happy right now,” she said. “And that’s enough.”

And then, with a corner of her mouth curving up, as she reached over to prop her arms on Nami’s shoulders and lean close, “And there’s still hours before dawn.”

Nami couldn’t help but smile back, wild and free, as Reiju leaned in to kiss her with all the exhilaration of escape. They tumbled back into bed together, orange hair fanning out over sink sheets and Reiju’s body warm and cold all at once and Reiju’s lips tasting like strawberries, and she couldn’t stop smiling.

The sheets were silk and the room was dark and lit by the city below, and it turned out Reiju had been right; if one knew what one was doing, one night could last a very long time.

* * *

They left the hotel just before sunrise, slipping out of the city and down to the docks unnoticed in the soft grey light of earliest morning. The ocean was lapping gently against the rocky shore and the wooden beams of the pier, a sound that had long since come to mean _home_ to Nami’s ears.

Reiju didn’t ask for a ride, and Nami didn’t offer one. That had been the terms of the affair from the start, after all; a one-night alliance. No strings attached.

But Reiju did say, “I hope I’ll see you again?” That playful spark was back in her eyes, but there was something softer there too, something more honest, some remnant of that briefly vulnerable moment they’d shared.

“Count on it,” Nami said with a grin, and Reiju kissed her once more and was gone, stealing away back down the pier without a backwards glance, leaving Nami with a purse full of gemstones and a smile too wide on her face.

She could see the silhouette of the Sunny approaching, muted by the early morning fog; come to steal her away again and bring her home, to her crew, to the next adventure.

She licked her lips, and savored the taste of strawberries.

**Author's Note:**

> title from [poison and wine](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBicqqc_UWg) by the civil wars. the working title for this google doc was "there's one vinsmoke legally allowed to rail nami and its not sanji."
> 
> i saw a post that made me think about reiju/nami and it immediately grabbed hold of my entire brain, like, the pOTENTIAL- so then i had to write this. it was definitely a challenge but i'm happy with how it came out!!
> 
> i'm on tumblr at @[oriigami](https://oriigami.tumblr.com/) if you wanna talk!


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